A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For January 26-27/2020 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 102th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
January 27/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 26-27/2020
Maronite Blinded and Escariotic leaders With idol-Derailed Worshipers/Elias Bejjani/January 24/2020
Lebanese security forces fire water cannons, tear gas at protesters
Qaouq Says New Govt. Formation a ‘Slap’ to U.S. Administration
Al-Rahi Says Govt. Facing Tough Test, Salutes ‘Peaceful Uprising’
Alain Aoun Suggests Early Polls if Government Fails
Mashnouq Slams Mustaqbal Supporters who Attacked al-Jadeed TV
Hariri’s Press office: Rebuttal of NTV report
Kobeissi: We are against this chaos and this policy, and against starving the Lebanese
Hoballah: It is a oneteam government, not one color
Sami Gemayel declares his Party’s reservation towards tomorrow’s Parliament session
Wazni denies sending budget to Parliament
No Confidence” protest march in Nabatiyeh and Kfarreman
Protest march roams the streets of Tyre
Protest march roams the streets of Tripoli
Justice Minister’s Office: Imaginary Twitter account attributes false news to the Minister
Here’s how the US can pressure Lebanon’s new government tackle corruption/Hanin Ghaddar & Matthew Levitt/The Hill/January 26/2020
Hassan Diab’s cabinet is unable to meet protesters’ demands or confront Hezbollah/Makram Rabah/The Arab Weekly/January 26/2020
Hezbollah-dominated government emerges in Lebanon for the first time/Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/January 26/2020
The tattoo spectrum in Lebanon/Salma Yassine/Annahar January 26/2020
Why is Lebanon’s Gebran Bassil so controversial?/Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/January 26/2020
Details Of The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorial published on January 26-27/2020
Maronite Blinded and Escariotic leaders With idol-Derailed Worshipers
Elias Bejjani/January 24/2020
Leadership wise, we, the Maronites, are currently orphans in both religious and political domains. Our childish and marginalized present leaders are totally detached from every thing that is a requirement and gifts for leadership, Lebanese identity, faith, self respect, planning, vision, conscience, principles, and self-respect. Sadly they are a bunch of greedy , self-centred, narcissistic and iscariot creatures blinded by their earthly hunger for power and money. No hopes what so ever for our people at any level in their presence and influence…replacing them is an urgent obligation and a must.
Lebanese security forces fire water cannons, tear gas at protesters
Reuters, Beirut/Sunday, 26 January 2020
Lebanese security forces on Saturday fired water cannons and tear gas at anti-government protesters trying to breach a security barricade outside government headquarters in central Beirut. Some protesters among the hundreds who had gathered for a planned march managed to open a metal gate blocking their way but were pushed back. After Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces used Twitter to warn peaceful demonstrators to leave for their own safety, riot police fanned out to disperse dozens of remaining protesters. “We want the demonstrations to be peaceful so they can prevail,” said Abdo Saadeh, criticizing a government formed this week as a “masquerade” by a political elite that protesters blame for driving the country towards collapse. The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah and its allies formed a cabinet of technocrats nominated by their parties under Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who was tapped for the job after protests forced former premier Saad Hariri to resign on October 29. “We came here today because there is no trust in this government,” Saadeh said. “They brought their cronies, their consultants.”The new government must tackle a financial emergency that has sunk the currency, pushed up prices and driven banks to impose capital controls. Security conditions have deteriorated, with hundreds injured last weekend in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. “We want a government of independents, not parties,” said demonstrator Reema Ajouz. “Independents can save the country. With the politicians we have we are headed to the precipice.”
Qaouq Says New Govt. Formation a ‘Slap’ to U.S. Administration
Naharnet/January 26/2020
A senior Hizbullah official announced Sunday that the formation of a new government in Lebanon delivered a “slap” to the U.S. administration. “The government’s formation was a slap to (U.S. President Donald) Trump, (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo, (State Department Assistant Secretary David) Schenker and all the men of the U.S. administration, who bet on chaos, the besiegement of the resistance and the subjugation of the Lebanese,” Hizbullah central council member Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said. “They were betting that the Lebanese would not be able to form a government except through U.S. dictations, desires and conditions, but a government was formed with a 100 percent Lebanese will to represent a real chance to rescue the country from collapse,” Qaouq added, noting that “the start has been encouraging and positive domestically and externally.”Reiterating that the new government is “a government for work and rescue, not confrontation,” the Hizbullah official said it will seek to “rescue what’s left of the state institutions, halt the collapse and confront the corrupts.”“Hizbullah will be at the forefront of its supporters, but at the same time, it will be at the forefront of those who monitor its performance,” Qaouq pledged.
Al-Rahi Says Govt. Facing Tough Test, Salutes ‘Peaceful Uprising’
Naharnet/January 26/2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said the new government is facing a “tough test” as he saluted the “peaceful uprising” of Lebanese youths. “The new government is facing a tough test, seeing as it has embarked on a difficult risk, in the name of the people and the youths who lost confidence following successive disappointments from the politicians and officials,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. “Despite that, the government must be assisted and held accountable for the outcome of its actions… This does not stand for the end of the uprising-revolution as they think, but rather for taking a stance of monitoring and demanding,” the patriarch added. Stressing that the government must “regain the lost confidence,” al-Rahi said he salutes “the peaceful and civilized uprising of the young men and women in all Lebanese regions.”“We express our solidarity with them and appreciate their sacrifices and efforts, because they want to turn a black page of our national life and write a new history,” the patriarch went on to say.
Alain Aoun Suggests Early Polls if Government Fails
Naharnet/January 26/2020
MP Alain Aoun of the Strong Lebanon bloc has suggested going to early parliamentary elections should the new government fail to halt the economic and financial deterioration. “First, the deterioration in Lebanon should be halted and then recovery measures should begin,” Aoun said in a TV interview, warning that “the failure of the rescue process would affect entire Lebanon.” “The first phase requires foreign assistance, but we can’t go to economic conditions that would blow up the social situation,” the lawmaker added, in reference to any austerity measures that might be demanded by international financial organizations. Calling for the privatization of the electricity sector, Aoun said he has a feeling that the “invisible hand” that is impeding power generation in Lebanon is “an oil cartel.” Asked whether he might run for the presidency of the Free Patriotic Movement, the lawmaker said “everything is possible.”He also underlined that “should the current government fail, the only solution is to go to early parliamentary elections to produce a new political situation, on the condition that the people accept it.”Aoun also noted that Hassan Diab’s government is the “last chance government” prior to “elections that produce a new political class.”
Mashnouq Slams Mustaqbal Supporters who Attacked al-Jadeed TV
Naharnet/January 26/2020
Beirut MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Sunday blasted Mustaqbal Movement supporters who had attacked the building of al-Jadeed TV in Beirut on Friday. “I was worried for the Sunni community… and I grew more worried after I saw thugs attacking al-Jadeed TV’s building and smashing its entrance, and after thugs whose loyalty is well-known came out of our ranks to attack a media outlet, after their brilliant success outside my house,” Mashnouq, who distanced himself from al-Mustaqbal bloc after the 2018 elections, tweeted. “They were likely trained at the hands of the protectors of the Council for South,” the ex-interior minister added, referring to the AMAL Movement supporters who assaulted anti-corruption protesters in Jnah on Friday. Lashing out at the person who “sent them” and identifying him by his first name Saleh, Mashnouq thanked God that slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri is no longer among us “so that he doesn’t see what is being committed in his name.” Those who attacked the TV network on Friday were protesting an anti-corruption show that exposed properties owned by prominent political leaders. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and ex-PM Saad Hariri was among those mentioned. Al-Jadeed said Hariri owns 71 real estate properties in Jezzine, Sidon, Aley and Beirut as well as six companies.
Hariri’s Press office: Rebuttal of NTV report
NNA/January 26/2020
In an issued statement by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Press Office on Sunday, it responded to NTV’s report on Hariri’s ownership of 71 properties in Lebanon, clarifying that “Prime Minister Hariri owns only one property, which is his residence in Beirut (Center House).”
“As for the rest of the real estate that he inherited from martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, he ceded it to his siblings, by power of attorney, knowing that the vast majority of the properties owned by the martyr Prime Minister in Lebanon had been purchased before he assumed any political responsibilities,” the statement added.
Kobeissi: We are against this chaos and this policy, and against starving the Lebanese
NNA/January 26/2020
Member of the “Development and Liberation” Parliamentary Bloc, MP Hani Kobeissi, voiced Sunday rejection to the state of chaos and to starving the Lebanese people. Kobeissi considered that “whoever wishes to keep Lebanon immune must avoid the chaos.” He added: “Finally, we were able to form a government, and whoever wishes to boycott it is free, but no one has the right to obstruct its work.””The upcoming Parliament session is to approve the budget first, and secondly to give confidence to the government which has many burdens and huge responsibilities awaiting it. Therefore, we all have to give it an opportunity in order to be able to solve the major problems at stake, most prominently the economic crisis,” Kobeissi underscored. His words came during a memorial ceremony held in the Southern town of Ghassanieh today, where he offered condolences on behalf of House Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hoballah: It is a oneteam government, not one color
NNA/January 26/2020
Industry and Trade Minister, Imad Hoballah, described the new government as being “a government of one team, not one color.””This government, which includes specialized and distinguished figures, is the government of one team, not one color. This government came to fight corruption and the corrupt,” he said. “Lebanon needs to be rescued, and this is the reason for the presence of a government of specialists at this stage,” Hoballah corroborated. His words came during a reception hosted by the Southern Municipality of Kfar-Melki, in the presence of a large crowd of townsmen who gathered to welcome the new Minister. Addressing the attendees, Hoballah said he was entrusted with a huge responsibility that requires “support and embrace.”At the industrial level, Hoballah pledged to back industrial production. “We will work to ensure a high quality industry..and there will be job opportunities by supporting local and small factories,” he asserted.
Sami Gemayel declares his Party’s reservation towards tomorrow’s Parliament session
NNA/January 26/2020
Kataeb Party Chief, Sami Gemayel, announced Sunday his Party’s “reservation towards the Parliament Council session scheduled for Monday to approve a budget that has been set by a fallen government, and will be defended by a government that has not yet received its votes of confidence, thus breaching the Constitution.”In a press conference held earlier today at the “Kataeb House” in Saifi, Gemayel considered that “the old approach continues, and the sole solution is to resort to early parliamentary elections immediately.”
Gemayel also disclosed that the MPs received a three-paper document on the state budget from the Parliament, which was said to have been sent by the new Finance Minister, explaining that the latter has no right to send anything before the government takes confidence and adopts the budget.
He added that the Finance Minister’s Office later issued a statement denying that he had sent the document in question. “So, who sent these papers which adopt, in the name of the new government, the budget of its predecessor? Are there ghosts in Parliament sending papers to the deputies…and who has the right to send such documents?” questioned Gemayel sarcastically. “The state of chaos continues,” he added. Gemayel also criticized the new government’s adoption of a budget set by a previous failed government, after all that happened in the country, the economic collapse, the revolution and the people’s uprising. “What we see today is a confirmation that there is a clear intention to pursue the same approach that was adopted, and a clear will by the ruling system to continue in the same way by voting on this budget,” he said. “The most critical aspect is that we are in a state of collapse, while the authority considers that Lebanon can continue for a year without reforms, until 2021,” warned Gemayel, considering this “an affirming act of fleeing responsibility.” The MP stressed that in light of the absent intention to hold reforms, and since the people will not stop demanding their rights, and in an effort to yield a new Lebanon, “we must return the decision to the people by adopting a law that shortens the mandate of the parliament and holding new elections.””People are suffering and we cannot continue in this way. The country cannot afford to delay reforms for another year,” concluded Gemayel.
Wazni denies sending budget to Parliament
NNA/January 26/2020
Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni denied MP Sami Gemayel’s accusations during his press conference early this morning, that “he has sent a new budget to the Parliament or any other text related to the budget,” stressing that it is the budget of the previous government.
No Confidence” protest march in Nabatiyeh and Kfarreman
NNA/January 26/2020
The Nabatiyeh and Kfarreman popular movements organized a march this afternoon to protest the new government under the slogan, “No confidence”, which set out from outside the Nabatiyeh Serail, NNA correspondent reported. Participants carried Lebanese flags and banners denouncing the public money looters, as they marched towards the Central Bank building where protesters called for the bank’s authority to be overthrown, revolting against corruption and the corrupt. Protesters indicated that their move aims at shedding light on three main headlines, namely the deteriorating economic situation that led to a setback in the city of Nabatiyeh and its commercial market, the fuel crisis and the dollar crisis. They stressed that “there is no trust in the government as long as the crises exist and the solutions are absent,” adding that their movements “will continue until the country gains its freedom from corruption.”
Protest march roams the streets of Tyre
NNA/January 26/2020
A demonstration march roamed this afternoon a number of streets in the city of Tyre, starting from al-Alam Square, in which participants gathered raising the Lebanese flags, and chanted “no confidence” slogans against the new government, NNA correspondent in Tyre reported.
Protesters criticized the newly formed cabinet, denouncing the return of quotas, and condemned those responsible for the collapse of the Lebanese pound against the US dollar. Security measures by the army and internal security forces accompanied the demonstration march.
Protest march roams the streets of Tripoli
NNA/January 26/2020
A demonstration roamed the streets of the Northern city of Tripoli this afternoon, in which participants raised Lebanese flags and banners denouncing the “corrupt authority” and chanted slogans calling for the resignation of the government and the formation of an independent specialists’ cabinet that can rescue the country, NNA correspondent in Tripoli reported.
Justice Minister’s Office: Imaginary Twitter account attributes false news to the Minister
NNA/January 26/2020
The Press Office of Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm issued a statement on Sunday, in which it indicated that fabricated news is being attributed to the Minister through a false Twitter account. The statement categorically denied such news, stressing that Minister Najm has no Twitter account in her name till this moment.
Here’s how the US can pressure Lebanon’s new government tackle corruption
Hanin Ghaddar & Matthew Levitt/The Hill/January 26/2020
حنين غدار وماثيو لافيت/موقع الهيل: الضغوضات الأميركية المطلوبة للضغط على الحكومة اللبنانية الجديدة لمواجهة الفساد
Against the backdrop of three months of political and economic protests, Lebanese politicians appear to have reached a deal establishing a nominally technocratic government in Beirut. Still beholden to Hezbollah, the government has little Sunni or Druze support. Some protesters already call this a “Halloween government” since it gives thinly disguised cover to longtime establishment politicians. But the new government is unlikely to be able on its own to tackle the single biggest challenge it faces: the rampant corruption responsible for the country’s acute financial crisis.
The formation of a new Lebanese government has been a central demand of the international community and a necessary precondition for any international aid. But that is not enough. The government must quickly take action to fight corruption and enhance transparency. For a country that has run on corruption and political patronage, this will be a very heavy lift.
Nearly all of Lebanon’s political establishment is entangled in Beirut’s deep-rooted corruption crisis, which cuts across the sectarian divide. Lebanon ranks 138th out of 180 nations in the Corruption Perceptions Index released by the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International. Meeting in December, the International Support Group for Lebanon issued a final statement in Paris urging Lebanese authorities to “take decisive action” to tackle corruption and tax evasion while improving economic governance and the country’s business environment.
At the time, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that while Lebanon must take these steps, the U.S. is ready to “do the things that the world can do to assist the Lebanese people getting their economy right and getting their government right.”
Today, the U.S. should take action that would force the new government’s hand and empower it to take on the corrupt political establishment — something no Lebanese government could otherwise do on its own: Washington should issue sanctions targeting some of the most egregious corrupt actors across the Lebanese political and sectarian spectrum under the Global Magnitsky Act. Corrupt leaders seek profit and the political power that comes with funding patronage projects. Global Magnitsky sanctions would not only name and shame Lebanon’s most corrupt actors, it would block all property and interests they hold in the United States, which are likely to be substantial.
There are other tools available to designated political corruption — such as Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020. The State Department employed this tool earlier this month targeting Moldovan corruption, but it includes only a ban on visa to enter the United States for the designee and their family members, and it lacks the authority to block funds held in the United States. Global Magnitsky would be a better fit in the case of Lebanon.
The State Department issued anti-corruption designations under the Global Magnitsky Act targeting entities in Cambodia, Latvia and Serbia in December, and there are no shortage of strong candidates for such action among the political elite in Lebanon today. Under the umbrella of such a U.S. action, the Lebanese government could be empowered to take the kind of action necessary to clear the way for the international aid package the country desperately needs.
Such action would have broad public support. Since the Lebanese people took to the streets on Oct. 17, 2019, U.S. officials have supported protesters’ demands for anti-corruption measures and reforms. In fact, corruption is the main reason behind the economic collapse that has pushed people to the streets. They clearly oppose the new government, which provides former foreign minister Gebran Bassil, a Hezbollah ally and one of the most roundly protested political figures, with control of a third of the cabinet and, therefore, the power to block legislation not to his or Hezbollah’s liking. To be sure, demonstrators would cheer sanctions against corrupt politicians and their business-class enablers.
The most notable aspect of the Lebanese protests was its anti-sectarian rhetoric and cross-sectarian participation. People from all sects and regions of Lebanon rallied to demand the end of the sectarian system and accountability for corrupt politicians. This is not a coincidence. The link between Lebanon’s sectarian leaders and the country’s acute corruption crisis is very strong, because they use nepotism and exploit state institutions to strengthen control over their constituencies.
These sectarian leaders have been implicated in a laundry list of corrupt deals and transactions used to build their financial empires through the good offices of politically-allied corrupt businessmen. One need look no further than Lebanon’s electricity, gas and garbage sectors to see how corruption has depleted the state of its resources and led to the economic crisis.
Designating corrupt Lebanese businessmen and officials under the Global Magnitsky Act would offer a tangible response to the persistent demands of Lebanese protesters because such action would target corrupt individuals from all sects and complement the anti-sectarian rhetoric of the Lebanese street. Now that a government has been formed — one that is unlikely on its own to gain the trust of the street or the international community — this is the perfect moment to send a message of support to the Lebanese people.
*Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedman visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
*Matthew Levitt is the institute’s Fromer-Wexler fellow and director of its Reinhard program on counterterrorism and intelligence.
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/479538-heres-how-the-us-can-pressure-lebanons-new-government-tackle?fbclid=IwAR1AdG-a6XusjsjAzs9hkhMjs0VG5Q08pOsv_zSMZfJj-070pyT44x7UvnI
Hassan Diab’s cabinet is unable to meet protesters’ demands or confront Hezbollah
Makram Rabah/The Arab Weekly/January 26/2020
مكرم رباح: حكومة حسان دياب ليس بمقدورها لا تلبية مطالب المنتفضين ولا مواجهة حزب الله
Almost a month after he was designated Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab announced the formation of his cabinet, which many Lebanese hoped would save the country from its political and economic meltdown.
For more than 100 days, millions of Lebanese have taken to the streets to demand an end to the archaic and corrupt system of governance and advocate for a cabinet of independent technocrats that would lead the country’s transition. Diab’s cabinet, unfortunately, does not fully respond to citizens’ demands.
While the group does include 20 ostensible technocrats, who are proven and capable in their respective fields, none are truly independent or capable of initiating real reforms.
Diab’s attempt to project an image of impartiality did not go over well with the public. Hundreds of people quickly took to the streets to express disapproval. The sentiment was shared by the international media, with many saying Diab’s so-called cabinet of experts was a “Hezbollah-backed government.”
While Diab claimed his cabinet was a product of the revolution, the riots and destruction caused by rebels in downtown Beirut and their clashes with Lebanese security forces showed that Diab and his government are perceived no differently from the rest of Lebanon’s political elite.
Even most pro-revolution Lebanese who do not engage in or support violence are hesitant to wager on Diab’s success. Few trust his cabinet’s ability and commitment to confront the ruling elite or Hezbollah’s hegemony over the state.
Diab’s mission is to meet the calls of the Lebanese revolution, which include serious structural reforms that allow the country’s faltering economy to rebound and for Lebanese to gain access to the savings that the banks have held hostage.
However rudimentary as these reforms might seem, they will legally end the political and economic monopoly of the ruling elite. Since Diab owes his newly acquired fame to this same junta, there is no indication he can take on the role of reformer.
Diab’s real enemy is time, a luxury neither he nor the Lebanese people have. The Lebanese economy has entered a very dangerous phase in which banks are no longer giving the public access to their accounts and have enforced unofficial capital control, limiting people to a few hundred dollars a week.
Aggravating the situation is the fact that major firms and businesses are either scaling down operations or shutting down, unleashing an unemployment crisis that Lebanon is ill-equipped to deal with.
Shortages of gasoline, medicine, medical supplies, wheat and other essential goods are looming because Lebanon relies almost exclusively on imports, which are paid for in dollars that are only found on the black market and from money exchangers, who also cater to Syria’s heavy demand on hard currency.
The Lebanese ruling establishment and its newly appointed government might assume they can ignore the rage in the streets and wrongfully dismiss protesters as being bent on vandalism and destruction but adding more cement walls and barricades to the parliament building and buying more creative and brutal anti-riot weapons will not make the revolution go away.
To exit Lebanon’s economic and political inferno, the Diab cabinet must heed the demands of its own people, demands that have been reiterated by the international community.
Adhering to diplomatic norms, the United States, France and Britain welcomed the formation of the Diab government and declared their intentions to help Lebanon, as they have over the years. Still, they were quick to remind the ruling elite that no grants or loans would come their way without proper reform and, more important, before Hezbollah and its regional excursions are curbed. Constitutionally, Diab and his band of technocrats have 30 days before they must appear before the Lebanese parliament with a plan of action and face a vote of confidence that would permit them to properly carry out their duties.
It has been 100 days since the Lebanese people first rose up and voiced rejection of the country’s corrupt leadership. They will not be fooled into supporting the same people who got them where they are now. Diab might get the vote of confidence from the 69 MPs who designated him but he has lost the support of millions of his own people.
*Makram Rabah is a lecturer at the American University of Beirut, department of history. His forthcoming book, “Conflict on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites and Collective Memory,” (Edinburgh University Press) covers collective identities and the Lebanese Civil War.
Hezbollah-dominated government emerges in Lebanon for the first time
Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/January 26/2020
جونيثون سباير/جيرازولم بوست: حكومة لبنانية يسيطر عليه حزب الله للمرة الأولى في لبنان
For the first time since the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 1990, the latter country has a government in which only Hezbollah and its allies are represented.
For the first time since the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005, the latter country has a government in which only Hezbollah and its allies are represented. This is likely to have a significant negative effect on Beirut’s efforts to engage international partners and donors in order to alleviate the acute financial crisis facing the country. It will also impact on Israeli strategic planning vis-à-vis Hezbollah.
The new government is the product of escalating popular protests under way since October 15. The protests are in response to Lebanon’s dire economic state. Demonstrators were demanding the formation of a government of “technocrats” qualified to address the urgent issues facing the country and untainted by contact with Lebanon’s enormously corrupt political parties.
The new government appears to be an attempt to create the superficial appearance of such an administration. Its 20 ministers were presented by Prime Minister Hassan Diab as “specialists,” nonpartisan and without loyalties to this or that political bloc.
Few Lebanese are likely to be convinced by this claim. The “specialists” in question are individuals whose names were put forward by the political parties. The composition of the new government emerged in a process of wrangling and horse trading between these parties.
But, crucially, parties and movements broadly associated with the West and with Saudi Arabia stayed out of the negotiations. Individuals linked to prominent pro-Western and anti-Iranian political trends, such as the former prime minister’s Mustaqbal (Future) Movement and the Christian Lebanese Forces, are not to be found among the new ministers. The Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is also not represented.
The government that has emerged from this process comprises individuals linked to movements that are part of only one of the existing power structures – the one associated with Hezbollah and Iran.
The new administration is being described by Lebanese commentators as a government of “one color,” Lebanon’s first of this kind. The color is that of Hezbollah and Iran’s banners.
Hezbollah itself controls only two ministries in the new government. But the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, led by Gebran Bassil, and the Shia Amal movement, both closely associated with Hezbollah, control much of the rest. Smaller parties also associated with this bloc make up the remainder.
In this regard, Diab’s emergent government constitutes for the first time an administration that reflects the long-standing power reality in Lebanon. Hezbollah has long dominated the key nodes of power in Lebanon – in the military and intelligence fields. Its influence is also profound in the economic sector. The overt, formal political administration in the country will now reflect this.
Over the last decade and a half, Hezbollah has gradually removed all obstacles to its exercise of full-spectrum dominance in Lebanon. In a trial of strength in May-June 2008, it brushed aside an attempt by West-aligned forces to challenge its will by force. Hezbollah’s 50,000-strong armed forces obey the edict of no government in Beirut.
On October 31, 2016, long-standing Hezbollah ally Gen. Michel Aoun assumed the presidency of Lebanon.
Three of Lebanon’s four intelligence services – the General Directorate of General Security, the Military Intelligence Directorate and the State Security Directorate – are headed by individuals appointed by Aoun and approved by Hezbollah. The fourth, the Internal Security Forces, once constituted a potent Sunni-led intelligence organization, associated with anti-Syrian and anti-Hezbollah forces. Today, headed by Imad Othman, it no longer plays this role.
Following the elections of May 2018, Hezbollah and its allies dominated the legislature and executive. They controlled 74 seats in the 128-member parliament, and 19 of 30 cabinet portfolios. But until the resignation of prime minister Saad Hariri in October 2019, the facade of a coalition government continued. This situation was amenable to the Hezbollah-controlled deep state. It enabled normal relations with international institutions, including financial ones, and ensured the continued flow of US and European aid.
As of this week, however, the ambiguity appears to have cleared. Formal power in Lebanon now coincides with real power.
SINCE THE war of 2006, a body of opinion has emerged in Israel according to which, in the event of a future conflict ignited by Hezbollah, Israel should abandon the paradigm by which the Lebanese state is seen as a helpless but blameless hostage of the Shia terrorist group.
Representing this view, then-education minister and current Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said in May 2018, following significant electoral gains by Hezbollah and its allies, that henceforth “the State of Israel will not differentiate between the sovereign state of Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will view Lebanon as responsible for any action from within its territory.”
In 2006, the government of prime minister Fouad Siniora was orientated toward the West. Israel thus faced the difficult task of chasing Hezbollah in Lebanon, while avoiding harm to the Lebanese state infrastructure. The results were mixed. It has since become apparent that senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, including the late Gen. Qasem Soleimani, were present in Lebanon during that war, directing the campaign of their Lebanese franchise.
Given the events of this week in Lebanon, any such attempt at differentiation is unlikely to be repeated. Rather, in a future contest between Israel and Hezbollah/Iran, the state of Lebanon under its Hezbollah-dominated government will constitute the enemy. This, in turn, will enable Israel to exercise the full range of options available to it from a conventional military point of view.
It is not clear whether such a war would include a formal declaration of war between Israel and Lebanon. If it did, such a declaration would be highly misleading. A conflict of this kind would not in any meaningful sense constitute a war between two sovereign states. Rather, as recent events in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have made clear, the praxis of the IRGC is to use its franchises to construct states within states. These structures then seek to occupy the formal body of the state, turning its independence and sovereignty into a fiction. This process appears this week in Lebanon to have reached its apogee. The formal state, up to and including the highest bodies of government, is now operated solely and overtly by Iran via its franchise, with the allies and clients of that franchise. This produces clarity, with its many attendant benefits.
The tattoo spectrum in Lebanon
Salma Yassine/Annahar January 26/2020
BEIRUT: The tattoo scene in Lebanon entails a spectrum of elements that shape its multifaceted visage.
Tattoos are a keepsake of the moments, words, numbers, inanimate entities, people, pets, and a plethora of other features that weave their holders’ personas. They act as a timeline that embodies museums of self-expression, molded by raw emotions that are archived through them on permanent trajectories.
“I’ve gotten tattoos at different times in my life to either commemorate an important piece of literature or literary figure that has meant to me or immortalize a certain intellectual breakthrough. My tattoos are a part of me, they represent me, who I am, who I’ve been, and the cyclic course of existence,” Emma Harfouche noted for Annahar.
People also resort to this particular form of body art to cover certain scars. It is a remedy that allows them to regain or further boost their self-confidence. Nour El Sabeh, a tattoo artist, stated that “most people who are getting tattooed are doing so for the sole purpose of beautifying and/or gaining control over their bodies.” She further added that covering scars of tummy tuck and self-harm are very common. It documents people’s healing journey in a beautifully vulnerable way. Tattoos are identity markers, wherein they are not only eternalized scribbles on people’s flesh but are also visual aesthetic narrators unveiling their personal stories in a silent manner. “My three tattoos symbolize important things to me. I felt the need to have them as a constant reminder of the motives that linger within them,” Rawand Haress narrated her experience of getting inked.
One of the leading prominent reasons behind yearning to get inked pivots around the fact that tattoos signal belongingness to a particular ideological background or the complete rebellion against it. This notion is heavily portrayed in the religious, political, feminist, queer, and patriotic vestiges in Lebanon.
“Our eyes caress churches everywhere, we witness the crosses touch the sky and listen to the mosques pray out loud. Our country’s streets are also bombarded with religious and political flags and/or figures. Thus, what is vibrantly exposed in public tends to transcend that medium to become carved on the skin as a token of pride and belongingness reflecting certain ideologies,” Charbel Eid told Annahar.
Iconizing religious and political affiliations is a unique aspect that distinguishes and diversifies this region of the world. Sandy Akoury, a body artist, accentuated the notion that the elements of religion and politics are key components that hover upon the lives of most of the Lebanese population. She stated that cherishing their beliefs through getting inked is a common practice. Tattoos can be perceived from various angles. They can either be considered as trendy, cool and great conversation starters or be frowned upon by the masses. The latter depends on the restriction of the work field, the background of the beholder, and the oriental mentality that still dominates the angle from which the topic is approached.
Despite that, the art of getting tattooed has always been entrenched in the Arabian entourage.
“The urge of marking someone’s skin had been there since the existence of humanity, and tattooing in the region started and still happens in tribes,” El Sabeh noted. “We are intellectual beings that appreciate beauty and art. Just like people like to hang artwork in their houses and offices, people also like to adorn their bodies with timeless artwork.”These artworks often carry a rich cultural background that encompasses Arabian and specifically Lebanese features such as the renowned Fairouz and Um Kulthum songs, names of Arabian cities, authentic foods that may add an element of humor, and Arabic poetry. These elements constitute a collective heritage that brings together the entirety of the nation’s history and folds it within a single tattoo. Moreover, El Sabeh noted that Arabic calligraphy is very common for native Arabic speakers in Lebanon in comparison to Latinized lettering.
Tattooed bodies are canvasses portraying aesthetic art that also voices defiance. Tattoos often blatantly mark statements of activism and rebellion in their own way, and this notion has been recently widespread to glorify Lebanese patriotism after the October revolution sprung.
Why is Lebanon’s Gebran Bassil so controversial?
Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/January 26/2020
Bassil, 49, has seen his fortunes shift since mass protests against corruption and nepotism erupted last year.
Beirut, Lebanon – A colourful mix of insults and allegations of nepotism, racism and corruption is how an average Lebanese protester would describe the country’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Gebran Bassil.
He is not alone. Lebanon’s entire ruling class has been targeted by protesters who took to the streets more than 100 days ago to demand an end to corruption and sectarian politics.
Bassil is one of the newer politicians on the bloc, having come to power after the country’s 15-year civil war. But he quickly rose to be a symbol of the cynical sectarian politics and mismanagement that have dominated the post-war era, critics say. Protesters point to his last 10 years in the government where he moved through the telecommunication, energy and foreign ministries and assumed leadership of one of the country’s biggest parties, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).
Lebanon has some of the highest telecommunications costs in the world, and the FPM has held the energy portfolio for a decade while the country remains without uninterrupted electricity supply. Still, Bassil enjoys unwavering support from his Christian base, who see him as a shrewd hard worker and a protector of their rights. MP Mario Aoun, a member of Bassil’s FPM parliamentary bloc, told Al Jazeera that Bassil was being “targeted because of his successes”.
Insults from the crowd
When the protests against Lebanon’s corrupt ruling elite broke out more than three months ago, crude chants were aimed at Bassil’s mother. So severe were the insults that Bassil, in his first address after more than two weeks of uncharacteristic silence, apologised to his mother.
“I’m so sorry that you were attacked because of me and it wasn’t your fault. You taught me to love Lebanon,” he said, addressing her in front of crowds of supporters at an organised rally on the outskirts of the capital, Beirut.
Before the protests, Bassil was widely expected to remain a top minister in government for a long time and was thought to be a serious contender for the presidency, a post currently held by his 84-year-old father-in-law, Michel Aoun. However, he was not named as a minister in Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s new government announced earlier this week. He was forced to go back on his initial demand to retain a cabinet post and instead name people not directly affiliated with his party. Bassil’s most recent trouble came when Lebanese people found out he had been invited to speak on a panel about the return of Arab unrest at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Before the interview on Thursday, 40,000 Lebanese people signed a petition saying he no longer represents them.
CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble asked Bassil how he arrived at the forum on a ministerial salary of about $5,000. Bassil responded that it had been offered to him, rather than paid for by the Lebanese treasury.
Family rule
Bassil’s political career began in earnest after he married one of Aoun’s three daughters, Chantelle, in 1999. This is not unusual in a country where many politicians inherit their posts or marry into power. He first stood for elections with the FPM in 2005, failing to win a seat in his hometown of Batroun.
He lost again four years later, leading many in Lebanon to joke that he was not even welcome in his own town. But he finally managed to win a seat in his third election bid in 2018. Despite the presence of other popular figures in the FPM, Aoun had handed Bassil the party’s reigns in 2015 over fears that leadership elections could sow division.
“You really feel like he’s that spoilt kid, because he’s the president’s son-in-law,” Nidal Ayoub, an activist who has led chants on the streets throughout Lebanon’s uprising, told Al Jazeera. Family politics also plays a large role in the party Bassil leads. Three of the FPM bloc’s 24 members – Salim, Mario and Alain – are all relatives of the president, and, by extension, Bassil.
Chamel Roukoz, one of Aoun’s in-laws, is also an FPM member of parliament, though his relationship with Bassil is frayed over what Roukoz has previously put down to their “different ways of doing things”.
Al Jazeera was unable to reach Bassil for comment while Roukoz and a former brother-in-law of Bassil declined to comment.
Charbel Nahhas, a two-time FPM minister who broke away from the party in 2012, told Al Jazeera that Bassil had been troubled by the impression among his peers that he was in his position because of nepotism. This, Nahhas said, translated into an overbearing approach to politics that led Bassil into chronic conflicts with other parties.
“He’s a hyperactive person. He works on all the files and learns, which is a rare thing to find among politicians in Lebanon,” Nahhas said. “Because he was so hyperactive, he would easily antagonise even those who are with him.” Bassil has, over the years, led the FPM into public spats with most of the country’s major political parties, who have accused him of engaging in corruption, monopolising top-level appointments and violating the delicate power-sharing agreement that ended the civil war in 1990.
As an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Bassil also sought to normalise ties with Damascus despite half the country’s political parties opposing the move.
Rhetoric on refugees
During a portion dedicated to Syrian refugee policy at a party event in 2017, Bassil told FPM supporters that, “Yes, we are Lebanese racists, but we know how to be Arab in our belonging, global in our [diaspora] and strong in our openness”. There are just less than a million Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations in Lebanon, though Lebanese officials including Bassil have said the number is much higher.
“The Syrians have one place to go: Back to their country,” Bassil said during that same event. It is the rhetoric like this that has led many to accuse Bassil of incitement against refugees.
As the leader of the country’s largest Christian party, Bassil has also repeatedly held up government work, including vital appointments, citing Christian representation.
This includes his years-long refusal to sign off on the appointment of forest rangers because most of them are Shia Muslims.
Is Bassil’s career over? In a recent four-hour interview with Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed, Bassil said all the pressure and insults he was facing would only make his resolve stronger. There were calls to boycott the interview. The interviewers repeatedly alleged he was involved in corruption, as Bassil was forced to defend himself throughout.
It was a far cry from past white-glove treatment by local media, such as a glowing 2018 documentary by another local broadcaster about Bassil titled “The Man Who Doesn’t Sleep”, where he was portrayed as a hard-working family man. But it is unlikely that Bassil’s career is over. He still heads the biggest party in the Parliament and, importantly, enjoys Hezbollah’s backing. “I don’t think those leading this campaign against him will be able to win – he’s cunning and clear-headed and on a path, a struggle till the end,” Mario Aoun, the MP, said.
Nahhas, however, believes Bassil will be brought down by the impending collapse of the country. Lebanon is mired in an economic and financial crisis that new Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said earlier this week was the worst in its history. “If the whole system wasn’t falling then he [Bassil] could digest it – lets not forget that the logic of these Zuama (sectarian leaders’) is built on constant fighting and conflict and even if there are 10,000 deaths on both sides, they can reconcile and become national heroes again,” he said.
“But the system is falling apart, and this is what threatens them all.”
